Forefathers of the novel:

Centuries before the novel emerged, how did people share really long stories?
-Epic and romance.
-Epics were written in verse. Such as ‘The Odyssey.’

Romance: In the French language, people still call the novel “roman" ie the word “romance” in
short. "Romance" was a literary form popular in medieval times. In it, the author narrates a long
story of adventure.

Novel also tells really long stories but is di erent from its forefathers. From epic, by not being in
verse. From romance, by being more realistic, i.e. close to reality. The characters of a novel seem
to be people like us while the characters of a romance seem to be people of a di erent world
altogether.

The word “novel," as we use it in English, is derived from the Italian word "novella" which means a
tale or a piece of news. So, it is distinct from its forefathers.

Features of novel:

1. Length
i) it is a narrative of considerable length, i.e. it is a long story
What is this considerable length?
As a general rule, one can say that a novel is much longer than a folktale, a fable, or a short story.
All these are the shortest in length.
So, a novel is usually, anything about two hundered pages or more.
E.M. Forster (1879-1970) in his short book Aspects of the Novel(1928) has suggested a minimum
length of about 50,000 words. Anything shorter than this would be called a novella, which is
longer than a long short story. A novella thus is somewhere between a short story and a novel in
length.
So, in terms of length, the ascending order is : Short story, novella, novel.
Short story is shorter than the novel. Apart from this, there is one di erence between the two: the
short story concentrates on a single e ect. The novel 'on the other hand' develops its characters
and themes in a more comprehensive manner. Also because the length factor allows novel to
create vast and complex plots and ideas.

2. It is in prose

3. A novel is usually in written form and published as a book.

So far, this is how we have novels. If in the form of an audiobook, we call it audiobook of a novel.

4. A novel deals with imaginary people and imaginary situations but in doing so it creates an
illusion of reality.
The creation of the "illusion of reality" implies that the reader tends to believe in the world of the
novel as something real.
4. A novel may be written about real characters but we should always look at these characters as
ctional characters who seem like real characters. That is why, novels are usually described as
works of ction.

Exceptions: Some people may not agree at all with our way of looking at the novel. They may
remind us that some novels are very short (for example Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and
The Sea), and some are written in verse (Vikram Seth's The Golden Gate) Many novels are printed
in serial form in magazines and not as books. Others deal with real people and real events. Some
novelists are constantly and intentionally working against any creation of the illusion of reality. All
this is true but then these are exceptions. A large number of novels are likely to conform to our
de nition. As our aim is to arrive at a working, and not a comprehensive, de nition of the word
"novel", we can safely say that “A novel is a long story written in prose and printed as a book
that creates an illusion of reality while dealing with imaginary characters and imaginary situations.”
fi
fi
fi
ff
ff
ff
fi
ff
 Rise of the novel. Novel in the eighteenth century:
The novel is the creation of the West. Though some people try to locate its origins in ancient
Egypt or medieval Japan, the birth of the novel actually is a seventeenth century phenomenon.
The novel is a comparatively recent phenomenon as compared to poetry and drama which have
existed for almost as long as recorded human history.

In England, the novel as a popular literary form was born in the eighteenth century. Many reasons
have been put forward for the growth of the novel in England during this period. Some of the
major reasons are :
i) a great increase in population
ii) the emergence and economic ascendance of the middle class
iii) availability of leisure time
iv) an increase in literacy
v) popularity of book clubs and circulating libraries
vi) improvement in printing technology
vii) gradual erosion of the patronage system with the author now looking to the public for support.

Earlier on, writers would get nancial support from rich and in uential people known as "patrons".
With the growth of capitalism, this "patronage system" gradually declined and the writers had to
depend on the sale of their books for survival. The improvements in printing technology led to a
comparatively cheaper, mass production of books. These books had a market because the
population was increasing at a fast pace, and in the newly- emerging literate middle class, the
novelists found a new target audience. These readers had spare time at their disposal and avidly,
with great interest devoured the substantial volumes. The coming into existence of book clubs
and circulating libraries also helped in the popularity of the new literary form.
The eighteenth century had many prominent English novelists as Samuel Richardson, Henry
Fielding, Laurence Steme, and Tobias Smollett. However, it was in the nineteenlh century that the
novel in its classical form reached its height in the works of Walter Scott, Jane Austen, W.M.
Thackeray, Charles Dickens, GeorgeEliot, Thomas Hardy etc. Among the prominent twentieth
century English novelists, we nd the names of D.H. Lawrence, Virginia Woolf, E.M. Forster,
James Joyce. The novel form has also bcen used by American, Latin American, African, Indian
and Commonwealth writers. They, too, have enriched it by exploring new themes and
experimenting with new techniques.

Composition of Joseph Andrews:

Novelist: Henry Fielding
Published in 1742 as a “comic epic poem in prose.”
About the author: Born in England in 1707. His father was a British Army o cer. His maternal
grandfather was a justice of the King’s Bench. So, it can be said that he was born in the gentry
class. Educated at Eton College. And then studied classics and law at a university in Leiden.
Gentleman by education and birth but was poor. Therefore, 1728-1737: wrote comedy dramas -
criticised for being written in haste and for money.

Ques - Why did Fielding write a novel - ‘Joseph Andrews’?

Ans - It was a reponse to: 1. Fielding was in a state of nancial distress.(Dramas got him into
lawsuits because he was criticising the government) 2. His wife and daughter were severely
ill(Miss Charlotte Craddock, his wife, was a wealthy woman and he lived o it but even that was at
stake now. He had earn his livelihood now). {He was also writing in journals during this time,
journals like ‘Champion,’ ‘True Patriot,’ ‘Jacobite’s Journal,’ and ‘Convent Garden Journal} 3.
Samuel Richardson’s Pamela or Virtue Rewarded (1740) (He did not appreciate the novel -
Detesting it for both its moral content and its literary method - and decided to parody it. He did so
rst in his novella Shamela (1741) and then Joseph Andrews. The complete title is “The History of
fi
fi
fi
fi
fl
ff
ffi
 the Adventures of Joseph Andrews and of his friend Mr. Abraham Adams.”) {Later he wrote Tom
Jones(1749) and Amelia (1751)-last novel. He died in 1754}

Ques - Comparison of his drama and novel.

Ans - Di erence: Writing novels meant opting for a new form to write in. Similarity: Both his
dramas and novel remained consistent in his view of literature’s moral utility as a vehicle of
constructive ridicule.

Ques - Why are we reading the novel?

Ans - 1) One of the rst novels in the English language.
2) The novel provides insights about the Augustan age, also called the Age of Reason or the
Enlightenment age. Satire - was viewed as a means of instruction, and observation was
considered the best way to learn about human nature and the world. Fielding’s satirical
commentary on hypocrisy, states and virtue here. He is educating the reader which qualities to
avoid and which to emulate.
Written in response to Samuel Richardson’s novel Pamela (1740) - In Pamela, the heroine resists
sexual temptation to maintain her virtue. Joseph Andrews ips 18th-century ideas of sexuality and
virtue upside down. Fielding shows that charity and virtue lead to true contentment and blessings
from God, while sel shness and lust lead to nothing.
ff
fi
fi
fl